


Melodramatic Fools

by SundayZenith



Category: The Tick (TV 2017)
Genre: Also an absurd amount of hugging for this word count- if there's such a thing, Dialogue Heavy, For the record I wrote this stream of consciousness style, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Likely OOC, Mental health talks and sibling arguments, Some swears and possibly ableist language, These two talk about their issues, headcanons, spoilers for both seasons
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-07
Updated: 2019-04-07
Packaged: 2020-01-06 02:01:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,980
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18378653
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SundayZenith/pseuds/SundayZenith
Summary: Arthur and Dot sit on the ledge of Arthur's apartment and just talk.





	Melodramatic Fools

“Just sitting on the ledge?”

 

Dot’s voice didn’t surprise Arthur- he had heard the door to the building’s roof open, which ruled out Overkill and his grappling hook, and the steps had been too light and overall free of deep, joyful chatter, which ruled out Tick. The lack of _annoyed_ chatter ruled out Goat, Dr. Karamozov still struggled with stairs and would have likely made a lot of noise coming up, most other supers and AEGIS agents just flew down or teleported near or jumped out of helicopters or _anything else_ to avoid stairs, and Tick had been on the phone with his mother and Walter when Arthur came up, which left only Kevin or Dot.

 

Or someone like Miss Lint who wouldn’t mind kidnapping, maiming, and/or outright killing him.

 

“Mind if I join you?” Dot asked, appearing next to him. She was dressed in all black again, her mask sitting atop her head.

 

Arthur shrugged, looking down from the sky. He had been fiddling with the straps on his wingsuit. “Even if I did, you’d do it anyway.”

 

“Like you aren’t the same way,” Dot quipped, swinging her leg over the building’s ledge and settling next to him. Arthur waved his hand at her and made a show of rolling his eyes, but otherwise held his tongue.

 

Mostly. “Just don’t fall, okay?”

 

“God, I’ll know if I’m about to. Try not to land on your face if you do.”

 

“Don’t jinx it.”

 

They sat in silence for a moment, watching the lights of city light up the night.

 

Dot. “Hey.”

 

Arthur. “Hi.”

 

“Do you still have your ‘bird watching’ equipment?” Dot asked, making exaggerated air quotes as she said _Bird Watching_.

 

Arthur huffed. “Somewhere, yeah.”

 

“Mind if I borrow it this friday? Overkill and I are staking out this building up north where we think some ex-pyramid gang members are getting together, and Overkill said DB would be busy.”

 

Arthur buried his face in his hands. “ _This_ friday?”

 

Dot rolled her eyes at his tone. “Yes, Arthur, _this_ friday. Why?”

 

“Tick and I are taking the kids over to Dangerboat to watch a movie.”

 

“Ah, that explains why Overkill wanted to get us out for the night, to give DB some alone time with you.”

 

“I-it’s really not. The Tick and six lobster babies will be there.” He paused, half turning towards her. “...But we are finally going to watch _The Princess Bride._ And we, uh. W-we talked to Lobstercules- she said they can’t really eat ice cream, but she did mention this similar recipe, with starfish.”

 

Dot’s face changed from being caught between annoyance and amusement to something softer, and though Arthur _knew_ he was probably imagining it, it seemed uncomfortably close to _pity_.

 

Before he could stop himself, he said, “We could reschedule, i-if you plan on going on a stakeout, so Dangerboat will be available. And Tick and I could-”

 

Dot’s face changed again, twisted. “Oh, for fuck’s sake- I can take care of myself!”

 

“Dot-”

 

“We’re _Categories_ , Arthur! And if we really need him, we can always call Dangerboat.”

 

“Look-”

 

“Maybe we don’t need you and Tick breathing all high and mighty down our necks-”

 

“Oh really? God, I can’t imagine what it’s like to have your sibling breathing down your neck-” Arthur threw his hands in the air and for a stomach dropping moment nearly lost his balance. Dot grabbed his arm and threw them both back onto the building’s roof.

 

They both needed a moment to catch their breath.

 

Arthur turned to his sister. “D-did you…?”

 

“Yeah. Kinda.” Dot leaned back against the ledge, pulling her knees close. Arthur copied her, wrapping his arms around his legs. “I saw you fall, and I fell after you.”

 

“Oh.”

 

More silences, then: “Look, Dot-” “Arthur, I-” “Y-you first-” “Just- no, you-”

 

“Dot, please, just-” Arthur leaned his head against his knees. “J-just promise me I- I won’t have to watch you die. Please.”

 

“Arthur-”

 

“Dot, I don’t think I could survive losing you.”

 

Much to Arthur’s surprise, Dot actually laughed. “How many times do I have to tell you, I _know_ how you feel.”

 

“No, Dot, I mean it- I barely qualify as ‘Not Crazy.’ I don’t- Dot, I-”

 

“I have never seen you die, for the record,” Dot cut it. Arthur felt her hand on his back. “Because everytime disaster struck, _I wasn’t there_ . That’s probably why it took so long for me to realize I had powers- because every single goddamn time they would have come it handy, I wasn’t there. Every bullet hole I cleaned, every burn victim I helped onto a gurney, everytime you fell- I wasn’t there. _Now I am._ Arthur, I would _gladly watch you die_ a thousand times over if it meant keeping you alive.’’ She pulled him close, wrapping his arms around him properly. “You, mom, Overkill, all those civilians- Just. Just _let_ me.”

 

Arthur wrapped his hand around her arm and squeezed it lightly. “I’m trying.”

 

She pulled back enough to punch him lightly, but there was no malice in it. “Well try harder.” She leaned against him, and Arthur leaned back. “I… I know you are. I am, too.”

 

Her tone lighter, she said, “Besides, Dangerboat deserves a little win, and I’d hate to deny mom more home footage foder. Seriously, I leave you alone for five minutes and you and Tick adopt a small army of talking lobsters from Atlantis.”

 

Arthur chuckled lightly at that. “We’re more like godfathers,” he said, echoing Kevin’s words.

 

“No, you’re not. Not really.”

 

“Oh, come on, Dot-”

 

“No, really. From what mom has said, you and Tick really took to parenthood.”

 

Arthur’s shoulders sagged slightly- he hadn’t even realized he had tensed them. “...He really _is_ a natural when it comes to kids.”

 

“Think you and Tick’ll ever-”

 

“No. Nope. Don’t even say that aloud. Dot, even if I was misdiagnosed, I’m still a barely functional human being. The only thing I could do is handle the paperwork, and even then the moment an adoption agency see’s my name on it, they’ll throw it in the shredder.”

 

“Come on, you made it on the Flag Five, didn’t you. I still don’t like AEGIS, but if they think you can handle the city, I think you could handle a kid of your own.”

 

“Where would we even keep a kid? It’s still a one bedroom apartment.”

 

“And I know you’d hate to give up that hole in the wall.”

 

“Ha ha.”

 

“Though while we’re on the subject of names-”

 

Arthur sat up and shot her a halfhearted glare. “Okay, don’t even _think_ about getting on my case for that, ‘ _Debra._ ’”

 

“Kevin told you that. Hey, even if it’s not as good as Walter and _Paloma’s_ , at least it’s _somewhat_ different from my real name,” Dot laughed.

 

Arthur attempted to maintain his glare, but couldn’t. He looked away with a huff.

 

They trailed into another silence and Arthur looked back up. You couldn’t see the stars with all the light pollution, but you could make out the moon.

 

The smile slipped off his face.

 

“...I don’t know, Dot,” he said. “I’d screw that kid up, somehow.”

 

“Well, I screwed you up, and look at you now.”

 

Arthur scoffed. “ _You_ didn’t screw me up. You and mom-”

 

“Didn’t listen to you at all? Ruined your self-worth? Helped you along the path to mental breakdown after mental breakdown?”

 

“-Got stuck with a screw up and handled it as well as you could. And that stuff was the Terror’s fault.”

 

“We helped,” she pointed out.

 

“Okay, fine, well, I-I screwed up Superian, and look at him now.”

 

“How the hell did you-?”

 

“Long story. Long, _stupid_ story.”

 

Dot followed Arthur’s gaze. “ _Oh_. Is that why you’re on the roof?”

 

“I _tried_ to tell him I wasn’t a therapist. He just seemed so convinced I could give him the answers he wanted.”

 

“Superian and his baggage aren’t your responsibility.”

 

“Well, I wasn’t yours.”

 

“Well, legally…”

 

“ _Don’t_.”

 

“What, afraid AEGIS will kick you out because you aren’t as sane as you and mom said?”

 

Arthur cringed away from her. He stood up and began walking towards the door.

 

“Arthur, wait,” He heard Dot stand up. “That was low, I’m sorry. I don’t know why I-”

 

“No, you’re right.” He whirled around to face her. “I’m still th-that _crazy_ asshole you had to pick up from the police station, and maybe- maybe I don’t want the world to know, because for the _first time_ in _years_ , I’m not-” He felt his throat tighten. “I’m not some poor, broken victim.”

 

“You’re not broken, Arthur. You never were.” Dot turned away and walked back to the ledge. She leaned against it. “If anyone here is broken, it’s me.”

 

Arthur knew he could just walk away, just chalk this up to yet another argument with his sister. But he didn’t want to.

 

“...You think you could have prevented dad’s death, don’t you?” He asked, already knowing the answer.

 

She shrugged.

 

He swallowed thickly, and walked forward. He held up his hand to touch her shoulder, then stopped himself.

 

“Dot, you were twelve.”

 

“What’s the point of being a Category- of having my abilities-”

 

“He saw it coming.”

 

Arthur stood next to her, avoiding her eyes. He could feel his start to twitched- god, he would never be free from his _stupid_ eye tic, would he? “Dad. Dad looked up. He saw the-the Flag Five’s ship. He-” Arthur pressed a hand against his eye. “He ducked, b-but he didn’t have time to run away.”

 

“I could have warned him, somehow-”

 

“It’s the Terror, Dot! He does whatever the hell he wants! If-if he had seen you, or dad, what would have stopped from-from impulsively ordering your execution? Or breaking your arms? Or- Dot, as-as far as we know, your abilities wouldn’t have been strong enough when we were kids to have done anything!”

 

Dot pulled her mask off completely. “I still feel responsible. And I’ll probably still feel like I was a minute too late for the rest of my life.”

 

Arthur raised his hand, hesitated, then threw his arms around her. “We’re both crazy then, I guess.”

 

Dot squeezed him back. “Both freaks, too. Just in different ways.” Then she burst out laughing, hard. It sounded slightly hysterical, and was also ridiculously infectious.

 

“What?”

 

“Nothing, just-” She pulled back, grinning. Her excessive eyeliner smudged slightly. “I’m just really glad that of all the brothers I could have gotten, I got one as crazy as you, you know?”

 

Arthur returned her laugh. “Yeah, I-I know. Of all the sisters I could have had, I’m glad I got the freak you turned out to be.”

 

They leaned against each, laughing on the roof of the building, under the moon where Superian had last been spotted and the stars that were still there, they knew, just hidden out of sight.

 

Dot pulled away, wiping her eyes and still smiling. “Okay, okay, that’s enough melodrama for the night.”

 

“Y-yeah,” Arthur smiled back. “Tick’s probably about to join us at any minute now.”

 

“Think he’ll give us a prize for the honesty hour? A sticker or something?”

 

Arthur pushed her lightly. “Do _not_ give him any ideas.”

 

“No promises. Hey, Arthur….” She trailed off for a moment. “Assuming I don’t die on my incredibly low stakes stakeout-”

 

“Not funny, Dot.”

 

“What do you say you and I just… take a drive, Saturday? No moms, kids, heroes, spies, aliens, or world ending catastrophes- just some good old sibling bonding.”

 

Arthur looked back up at the moon. “I can’t really promise any of that, but…” He looked back at his sister. “I’ll try and pencil something in.”

 

“That’s all I can ask for. Come on,” Dot gestured back at the door. “Let's get back inside and make sure Tick hasn’t conspired with mom against us.”

**Author's Note:**

> Tumblr: Sunshine-Zenith


End file.
